My Most Recent QSO's

Saturday, June 2, 2012

My 1000 MPW Log Book

I sent an e-mail, with an attached log book, to the North American QRP CW Club this morning. I've been procrastinating on my long distance contacts for far too long now. It's interesting to note, in the log book, that the vast majority (15) of my 1000 MPW contacts are on 20 meters. Despite living at almost sea level, on the valley floor, in town, with an eleven story apartment building next door, I still make plenty of contacts and have enormous fun with a simple station.


The little 18" Isotron antenna is a surprising little rascal, and even more surprising, it's indoors and mounted on a painters pole which is bungee corded to a bed railing in an upstairs room. It's fed with 10 feet of coax cable.


It's also interesting to note that ALL my 1000 MPW contacts have been made with Morse code. I've never made a 1000 mile per watt contact with 5 watts of SSB power, or even with 10 watts of SSB power. I think this speaks volumes about the efficiency of Morse code operation. If you don't know it, learn it. It will double your fun on the bands. It's VERY efficient.


I'm hoping my achievements will appear on the NAQCC web site soon after my newsletter story appears in the next issue. The log book shows four different stations in Bulgaria, five stations in France, one each in Spain, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Moscow Russia (on 40 meters), Sweden, and Germany. In addition to these, I've worked Puerto Rico and Washington state with 1 watt of power. I made a big effort to reduce my power below 5 watts last year and it paid off well.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretist 8Congratulations on your success John. You've made me think that I should look at my logbook too, for those 1000+ mpw QSO's.

Looking forward to seeing you on the NAQCC site!

Dave
AA7EE

Jspiker said...

Hello Dave,

Sure wish I could run better antenna's here but will have to play the cards I've been dealt. Regardless of the situation, I sure have a lot of fun playing with a simple station. Love this hobby!

Dick said...

Hi John. Good observations on antennas and dealing with things as they are. Seems many hams are prepared to abandon the hobby if they can't erect the ideal antenna. You and a few other blogers are good examples of persistance leading to success. 73 Dick

VE9KK said...

Good morning John, yes I too have been very surprised how well CW travels the air waves!! I was given a challenge to go through my log and see how well my attic dipole has treated me with long distance contacts.

Jspiker said...

Good Morning Dick,

The long distance contacts are exciting but my focus these days are on a nice long chat with a good operator. Hihi. Speaking of perseverance; you're one of those at the top of the list.

Jspiker said...

Good Morning Mike,

You've got an excellent antenna farm there in the attic and your "long distance" QRP contacts are some of the best in the hobby! I'm sure you're one of the top guns on the bands. Great work there!

Bert, PA1B said...

Hello John, I am reading Stealth Antennas from Steve Nichols, G0KYA.
An interesting book. Especially your Isotron Antenna. I very much like the article. It's very informative on your location and antenna situation. It's inspiring to other QRP enthusiasts. It must be great fun to be out with the Isotron. 73, Bert